


Being a villain was fun (unless you go to Central City)

by Microsoftberry



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Central City citizens do love their resident hero, M/M, Rick Liddleton is an innocent villain-wannabe, and many others do too, and that's when everything goes south, he just wants to do villain stuffs and have some fun, until he comes to Central City, where he meets the one Scarlet Speedster
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-30
Updated: 2016-07-31
Packaged: 2018-07-28 05:50:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7627552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Microsoftberry/pseuds/Microsoftberry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rick Liddleton aka the Explocicles(yes it's a terrible code name) is an average, ambitious, innocent new villain in town who happened to arrive at Central City. He has seen, met, fought various heroes and vigilantes in their cities but the Flash is nothing like them in so many unexpected ways. Cue the suffering of Rick begins, and he may learn too late that you shouldn't mess with the city's adored hero in front of the citizens of Central City.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. New Villain In Town

**Author's Note:**

> This was beta-read by wonderful, amazing HotaruMuraki, she is a really excellent, kind, witty teacher and this fic couldn't have been written properly if it weren't for her great help. Thanks again so much!! *hugs*

Being a villain was fun.  
Rick Liddleton, with his ability to create a freeze-zone with a 30-feet-radius and also make balloon-shaped bombs and float them around, was branching out his career as a newly-introduced villain. He was called the "Explocicles" because apparently there was this idiot who called Rick that on the news and it stuck. Unfortunately.  
Rick was smart, he learned and experimented with his skills and he was bold, and it was soon before he didn't find satisfaction in small-time robbery or theft in his little hometown and decided to branch out.

He has been to many cities with their resident superheroes.  
He has been to Starling City. Its vigilante, the Arrow, was grouchy and anyway, too murdery for a hero. Another stop was National City where there was a girl who shot laser-beams out of her eyes. (Really, this one was an alien for crying out loud!) In Metropolis, he had encountered the laser-shooting girl's cousin - and he was freaking Superman!  
As for Gotham... Okay, he ran out of the city more because he was afraid of being caught by the cackling green-haired villain, not the bat-costumed hero. Rick kind of almost felt bad for the caped hero. And finally, he was here, in Central City, where the citizens were just kind and happy compared to the last two cities he had visited.

Rick knew that this city also had its resident hero, the Flash. He heard many things about him and decided to do some research before he actually made a big debut in this city. The hero was a speedster, had a knack for saving people, and apparently he was beloved by the people of the city. Rick made a face at the menu board above the coffee shop counter. There was a freaking 'Flash' on the menu, and seemingly one of the most popular drinks in the menu seen by the people smiling and ordering the 'Flash to go, please' like it was their kind of private joke. I mean... Ugh.

He also found out that there was an official day dedicated to the hero (the Flash Day, oh my God). The mayor actually threw a parade, followed by a ceremony where he gave a fucking golden key to said hero. Not to mention there were thousands of Tweets and fanpages and other SNS crap gossiping delightedly about their resident speedster. And kids actually begged their parents for Flash-figures for their birthdays.

Rick was throwing his hands up in surrender by the time he closed his laptop in the coffee shop. The 'Flash' cup was looking at him accusingly when he reached for it, and for a brief moment he felt a bit ashamed but whatever, sue him, the shop's service was good and 'the Flash' actually tasted good. But he was NOT going to be one of those Flash-crazed residents. He just happened to like the coffee named after the city's hero and that was it.

Really, Rick did not know why the residents were so crazy about the hero. Yes, he was not bad to look at. Yes, the red-leather thing set off his lean features and Rick did totally not pay attention to how nicely it hugged his slim waist and cute butt. And yes, the hero's inability to stop himself from protecting his city's residents and people in danger no matter how it put the speedster himself in danger was kind of sweet and awesome. And maybe the little tricks here and there like rebuilding the city or helping out elderly people or making children scream with joy with the show of his flashy speed was heart-melting to some people but really, Rick didn't see what people were gushing about. 

Unfortunately, just when Rick was up and ready to plan the whole evil schemes he could come up with, he was struck down by the flu. So when he was cursing the stupid long-haired geek who accidentally sneezed at him and apologized like a million times before he left, and was tossing and turning with blankets and coughing syrups and being miserable, sickly shadow of his usual self, Rick might have missed some major events that were happening to the city.

If Rick had just turned on the radio or TV while he was being sick, he could not possibly have missed the news. But Rick stayed at the rented apartment and stayed with both doors and blinds shut, cutting off the entire city outside. Well, that was his mistake.

By the time he was completely healed and was determined to wreck this cursed city with his villainies, Rick knew nothing of those events and planned to make some money, harassing the Scarlet Speedster along his way. 

So it was a week after recovering from the flu when Rick finally met the Flash in person. And he didn't know what he was getting himself into.


	2. Rick finds out, but it's too late

Something was off. That much was obvious. People were glaring at him and there were hushed whispers and shouts and shrieks, but it was something more than that. It was just that, people were really glaring daggers at him like they would strangle him with their bare hands. 

Yes, Rick was holding an entire bank hostage, people were crouching down, their cellphones thrown out on the floor and Rick was currently holding a 9-year-old by her wrist and had floated multiple bombs around inside the bank. And the Flash, who appeared in no less than 20 seconds after he held the bank hostage, was half-frozen and half-burnt due to Rick's coldfield and bombs and still managed to bring everybody to the far corners of the bank and a safe distance away from the mini bombs when Rick had said 'Stop or this little girl gets it'. 

Yes, Rick knew it was too corny but this kind of stuff worked best on heroes, especially when they were not crazy arrow-shooting or bat-like vigilantes. And really, the moment he saw Rick floating a multiple bombs around the little girl, the hero's half-covered face was stricken with horrified expression and the speedster had frozen to the spot. Really, the mask did very poor work at hiding the man's feature, sure it covered his hair and his cheekbones, but still if you're a villain and the Flash wasn't blurring his face like he did when he was facing the citizens, you could clearly see the huge expressive green eyes and pretty soft lips and it was pure distracting. (Or was it the design of the suitmaker to intentionally distract the villains? Who knew) 

Rick knew the Flash was calculating if he could be fast enough to get past multiple floating bombs and grab the girl and escape, but Rick was already spreading out his cold field radius which was already proven effective when dealing with the speedster, if not shown by already half-burnt half-frozen state of the Flash. Even if he manages to get to the girl, he won't be fast enough to avoid all the blastings from hitting the girl and himself. 

Rick smiled. But it quickly turned south when he kept noticing the way people were glaring at him, seriously, why weren't they running the hell out of the bank screaming already? They were hostages surrounded by dozens of mini-bombs for crying out loud and they seemed more pissed than terrified by now. They were whispering something by themselves in anger, half of them checking the clock and then turned back their attention to the deadlock, and just kept glaring at him like he was some very rude and clueless idiot.(What was wrong with these people?)  
And when he actually caught the red speedster's eyes dart for the clock on the counter for a single second, Rick couldn't help it and sneered. 

"Why do you keep checking the clock? Do you have someplace else to be?"

The Flash blinked, and turned his neck in a slap and bit his lip guiltily, shaking his head and looked back at Rick. 

"No, no, it's just that---"

"If you're too busy to face me, you can just leave this little girl and go." 

The hero yelped at that. 

"No! That's not it. I'm not---"

Rick knew that the Scarlet Speedster could do no such thing, he could already see how the mere idea of leaving the little girl in Rick's evil grip was devastating to the hero, but it got him curious. 

"You can tell me you know," Rick taunted the speedster.

"No, it's- you should really let the girl go, you can just deal with me." The speedster said and when Rick looked down at the girl, whom he expected to be crying senseless by now, actually seemed more pissed at Rick than was scared. Seriously, what was wrong with this city??  
Rick shook his head and continued. 

"You see that I'm holding the girl right now and I tell you what to do. Spill." 

The speedster seemed too embarrassed. 

"It's just that--- I'm late. I'm late for--"  
"You're late for what?"

The kid did not seem to know how to get the words out, and Rick was getting impatient(and kind of a little scared at how people were just glaring daggers at him right now. What was it with these people? What was he missing?)  
The Flash hesitated for a moment, and finally whispered, 

"For my wedding."

Silence fell. Rick gaped at the man. 

".. What??"

He blinked. 

"I mean, WHAT?"

The Scarlet Speedster's cheeks were blushing like the color of his suit and it would have actually looked quite adorable if Rick's brain hadn't stopped for a moment. Flash continued. 

"For my wedding. My fiance is already waiting for me at the altar, it probably started 10 minutes ago but that's-- that's not more important than you letting go of that little girl." The speedster said and Rick froze. 

Oh.  
Ooooooh.  
It explained so much. 

"You're a jerk." The little girl glaring up at him said loudly and Rick flinched. He looked down at the girl dumbfounded. 

"Excuse me?"

"Today's Flash's and Captain Cold's wedding day and you ruined it. You're a dick." The little girl said and people were shouting and murmuring in agreement and Rick suddenly felt like he was the the world's biggest heel. 

"Captain Cold proposed to him last week, you idiot!" An elderly woman pointed her cane at Rick and shouted. 

"Where have you been, in a cave?" 

One of the girls in their 20s was also shouting at him. "It was so romantic, it made me feel like there was still love in the world." And she turned to Flash with a smile and said,"We are so happy for you Flash! We love you!" 

Her shout was followed by an applause and cheers that had the Flash gaping at the crowd, blushing furiously. 

"You messed with the Flash on his wedding day! What kind of monster are you?!" Some teenage boys shouted at him and Rick was feeling the mob slowly crowding on him. 

"Let the girl go and let the Flash have his wedding!" A man in his 40s with his arms folded shouted. "He deserves it and you're keeping a very impatient and very scary ex-supervillain groom waiting." 

It made Rick's jaw drop. And after a very angry and scary mob shouting and a blur of seconds later, he was releasing the child to the Flash. The girl ran toward the Flash and hugged the hero and there was a loud 'awww' from the crowd. That was it. Rick had had enough of this crazy town.  
Rick snuck from the scene before the mob found him and by the loud cheers and a gush of wind that told the red-clad hero was off to finally get married. 

And when he got home Rick watched on the news channel a brief image of Flash and Cold getting married, the Flash was still blushing red when he got to the altar and Cold gave the Flash a smirk that soon turned into a genuine smile as they put a ring on each other's hand. As they kissed, the priest proclaimed the marriage and people were cheering and it really was kind of nice. Rick begrudgingly admitted it was kind of sickeningly sweet after all. 

And when Rick found out that the guests of Flash's and Cold's wedding were certain heroes and vigilantes that were secretly hellbent on finding the person who made the Flash late for his own wedding, Rick packed his things as quickly as he could and ran for his life.  
Being a villain was sometimes very tricky after all.


End file.
